Jim Johnson press conference: 8-18-05

Site Staff

08/18/2005

On whether he expects to have defensive
tackle Sam Rayburn on Saturday:
"I think probably there is going to be a decision
made tomorrow, if it has not already been made. I think that it is very
questionable right now. We will just have to see. It's probably a 50-50 chance."

On how Rayburn looked at practice today:
"A little rusty. He doesn't have a lot of strength
in that arm right now. He's got to get his strength back. As we know, he hasn't
practiced a lot, so he was a little rusty."

On how he thought the young guys played on
Monday night:
"I think that every time you go into a preseason
game, you look for the good and the bad. So, there were some good things,
especially out of the young rookies. [DT] Mike Patterson showed exactly what we
think of him. He still has good quickness, but he still has to work on his pass
rush. But we were happy with him. Martin Patterson, the free agent linebacker,
had an awfully big game. We were impressed with him. I think that [LB] Matt
[McCoy] is still struggling with some stuff. I think that outside linebacker is
a hard thing to learn. He's still struggling a bit, but he is going to play a
lot more this week. We only played him about a quarter, but he needs a lot of
reps. We have to get him into the game more. But, some of those young guys, like
[DE] Trent Cole, we are really happy with him. I'm not sure he's going to play
Saturday night, but he got a lot of reps and it was good to see him perform that
way."

On how linebacker Martin Patterson has looked
so far:
"He's a very physical linebacker. He shows, in
between the tackles, that he can play middle linebacker. He can take on a lead
block. He takes on a lineman well. He's still working on his pass coverage. I
probably think that is his weakness, but he's had an excellent camp. No question
about it."

On whether he thinks that Martin Patterson is
ahead where most rookie free agents in his position should be:
"I think so, yeah. For a free agent young guy
coming in, I think he's done an extremely good job. He's ahead of a lot of guys
we've had."

On how much being out has hurt defensive end
Trent Cole:
"It's just the reps. It's just a rookie learning
the system. It's a shame, because he was really coming along well and this is
going to set him back a bit. But hopefully, we can still get him ready for the
opener.

On the progress that Jason Short has made
from this point last year at the linebacker position:
"Night and day so far. Again, he had a great game
the other night. He had a lot of plays, 50 some plays. He looked like he could
be a linebacker for us. Again, he is still making some mistakes and he has to
work on that. He didn't have a great week of practice. He knows that, but he did
play well in the game the other night. He's going to play a lot this week. With
[LB] Greg Richmond down, he's going to have to fill into that SAM linebacker as
far as a backup. But we are happy with him. He's really so far ahead of last
year."

On whether he would have said that same thing
about Jason this time last year:
"I had a bit of question, I really did. He really
struggled. He was a good special team's player, but he struggled at linebacker.
But right now, [Linebacker Coach Steve] Spagnuolo has done a good job with him
and has got him ready. He seems like a different linebacker this year so far."

On whether this is one of the better groups
of young linebackers he has had since he got here:
"Well, I say we have a lot of versatility with [LB
Mark] Simoneau and [LB Keith] Adams. But, the thing we miss right now is Greg
Richmond. We were counting on him and he's going to be out for a while. We are
still mixing and matching a bit and I think we will find guys for that SAM
linebacker and that MIKE linebacker. But, at least we have some guys and depth
to work with. We will just have to see how it shakes out."

On defensive tackle Keyonta Marshall's
development:
"Yeah, he did a nice job. He's showed that he is a
very good run player against a good run offense last week. He made a lot of
plays inside. He held his ground. I think that he has to work on his pass rush,
no question about it, but he did show us he can play in the NFL. Now again, that
is the first game and we will see how things go the rest of the 3 preseason
games, but he looked very good against some good offensive linemen last week."

On whether he has heard anything at all from
defensive end Jerome McDougle:
"No. It's one of those situations where we are
staying out of. We are just going to let him get ready when he can. Talk to
[head coach] Andy [Reid], talk to [head trainer] Rick [Burkholder] and we really
have not even tried to tell you the truth. We know that it is tough, not a lot
of conversation right now."

On whether he is concerned with the depth of
the defensive line for this week:
"Yeah, especially at defensive end we are a little
short this week. We will have to really watch it. We will see how much we play
that first group. I'm sure that we will play them a heck of a lot more than last
week. We just have to watch it. Guys are going to have to double up a little
bit. No question about it, we are light there."

On whether he would consider playing
defensive tackle Darwin Walker at end:
"No, not this week. Not unless it is a real
emergency. Not this week."

On the timeframe of getting linebacker Greg
Richmond back:
"I don't know exactly. You have to talk to the
trainers. But it's going to be a while."

On why he is high on Richmond:
"He is a very intelligent guy. He's very strong.
You know he was a defensive end in college. He can handle a tight end because he
has good strength. Just what we saw of him early, he's a good special team
player and a very physical player. He is a pretty good athlete, so we liked him.
It's just a shame."

On how many defensive ends will be available
this week:
"We will have 4. We will have [DE] Norm [Heuer]
rotated in there, so we will have four."

On how the young safeties played last week:
"I thought they did well, [S] Quintin Mikell
especially. He showed he can still help us right there. I thought that both
those free agent corners, [CB Linj] Shell and [CB] Aric [Williams] did a nice
job. I was happy with that. I think that the two safeties hit a wall a little
bit. Just the mental part of it, so they probably were not as aggressive. But I
thought the corners did a nice job."

On whether he can assume that defensive
tackle Corey Simon is going to be here for the season:
"If a guy is not here, I assume he is not going to
be here. I think it's as simple as that. We just have to go on. If he is not
here we are making plans and if he is here, great. But, that is how we have to
approach it."